Pence: Offended by Reports He Is Distancing Himself From Trump

Vice President Mike Pence’s team is pushing back on the idea he's distancing himself from the scandal dogging President Donald Trump over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Politico reported some White House officials felt they were blindsided by Pence's statement Tuesday in the wake of Donald Trump Jr.'s release of emails about a 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer. The Tuesday statement said Pence was "not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket."

An unnamed source elaborated on Wednesday, Politico reported. "[The Tuesday] statement was a response to press inquiries and was similar to what the President's lawyers said” in noting that Trump didn’t know about the meeting, the source told the outlet.

"The Vice President finds any suggestion that he's distancing himself from the President to be offensive.”

• VP Mike Pence: 'We're Very Close' on Healthcare
• Pence: If We Can't Repeal and Replace, Then Repeal Now, Replace Later